Cellulose nanocrystal/plant oil polymer composites with hydrophobicity, humidity-sensitivity, and high wet strength

The preparation of high-performance cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs)/plant oil-derived polymer composites is still a challenge, due to their poor compatibility. Here, by designing amide groups and epoxy groups on sunflower oil derived polymers, appropriate interfacial hydrogen bond interactions between the polymers and CNCs were constructed, where CNCs were homogenously dispersed in polymer matrix. Tensile tests and DMA results revealed that the incorporation of CNCs into sunflower oil derived epoxy polymers significantly enhanced the tensile strength and storage modulus. More importantly, nanocomposites with 50 wt% CNCs are still hydrophobic, which not only show a fast and reversible humidity induced modulus switch, but also exhibit high wet strength (19.9 MPa) after equilibrium water adsorption. The present work revealed that proper designed CNCs/plant oil polymer nanocomposites are good candidates for high performance and functional materials, which are able to replace petroleum-based materials in various fields.